Conscious Investment Management releases its impact fund report for 2021

Dedicated impact investment fund manager, Conscious Investment Management (“CIM”), has released its first impact report to share details of its investment activities and portfolio impact performance for the 2020/21 year.

A$238 million has been deployed in total to eight investments specifically addressing social and affordable housing, seniors housing, distributed solar, social impact bonds and specialist disability accommodation.  The largest investments made by CIM include Victorian housing, where 177 apartments for social and affordable housing have been financed, followed by 84 specialist disability accommodation apartments.

In addition to sharing highlights from the portfolio, this inaugural report also sets out the framework for impact evaluation. The report contains case studies on the impact investment themes – outlining the challenge and the outcome of each investment alongside its impact measurement score. These impact investment themes are those that CIM believes can address some of the largest global challenges relating to environment and climate, health and education, and social infrastructure.

Casey Taylor, Director, said: “By sharing our learnings and experiences to date through this report we hope to further the conversation about impact investing in Australia, and encourage greater transparency and reporting amongst the sector. Our portfolio aims to deliver positive social or environmental benefit, and this report represents the first phase in measuring and reporting on our impact journey.

Our impact measurement methodology uses the Impact Management Project (global consensus on measuring, assessing and reporting impacts on people and the natural environment) as the overall framework, which considers the impact achieved across five dimensions: what, who, how much, contribution, and risks. We align with the relevant United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and layer in the Global Impact Investing Network’s Impact Reporting and Investing Standards metrics for each impact dimension of Impact Management Project.

We hope to grow together with our investors and impact partners to contribute to better outcomes within housing, solar, and social impact bonds.”

Conscious Investment Management has invested in eight assets, deploying $238 million with the backing of 414 investors and with the support from eight impact partners, who have aligned missions and expertise. The Conscious Investment Management Impact Fund has returned 5.3%* for the year to 30 September 2021.